Montauk Traffic, a 4 1/2-length maiden winner here Dec. 28, worked five furlongs in 1:01.66 on Wednesday morning and could be a candidate for either the Grade 2, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 1 or the $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes on Feb. 8.
Although nobody wins a Derby the first week of January, interest was keen for a pair of 3-year-old stakes last Saturday at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park, races run under dissimilar conditions. Aside from both races restricted by age, both at one mile and won by the favorite, comparing the Grade 3 Sham at Santa Anita and $100,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park was apples and oranges.
Road to the Derby: Jerome Stakes analysis
There was more a sense of relief than revelry from the connections of Independence Hall after their excitable colt made a successful, albeit nerve-wracking, 3-year-old debut in Wednesday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.
An unspecified setback has knocked the exciting 3-year-old Honor A. P. out of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Storm the Court’s comeback planned for February at Santa Anita is likely to be postponed, and the forecast of rain Dec. 23-27 could push the 2020 debut for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner into March.
Road to the 2020 Derby: Springboard Mile
Road to the Derby: Remsen Stakes analysis
The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed as usual as a decisive favorite in Pool 1 of the 2020 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern after a four-day wagering window.
Tiz the Law, the unbeaten 2-year-old whose chances of earning a divisional Eclipse Award depend heavily on how he runs here Saturday in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, got his first feel for the track with an easy jog Wednesday morning over a sloppy Churchill oval.
